Kitt Peak Nightly Observing Program Slendors of the Universe on YOUR Night! Many ictures are links to larger versions. Click here for the Best images of the OTOP Gallery and more information. Engagement Ring Increase The Engagement Ring: Through binoculars, the North Star (Polaris) seems to indent be the brightest on a small ring of stars. Not a constellation or cluster, this asterism looks like a diamond engagement ring on which Polaris shines brightly as the diamond. Boötes Boötes has a funny name. Pronounced boh OH deez, this constellation s name means sheeherder, or herdsman. It looks kind of like a kite, or a shoe. Some remember that Boötes look like a boot to hel ick it out in the sky.
Corona Borealis Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown, is a tiara shaed, or C shaed constellation. Its brightest star, called Alhecca, or Gemma, shines like the crown jewel centeriece of a brilliant celestial tiara. It s southern counterart, Corona Australis, or Southern Crown lies just south of the eclitic. Corvus Corvus is Latin for crow, or raven. This constellation is associated with nearby constellations Hydra the water snake, and Crater the cu. There are no articularly bright stars in Corvus. The four main stars make a olygon shae. Gemini
Gemini is a well known zodiac constellation. Zodiac constellations line u with the lane of the Solar System in our sky, an intersection known as the eclitic. This means you will find lanets assing through Gemini from time to time. Gemini is also grazed by the lane of the Milky Way, and therefore has a few dee sky objects within its boundaries. Gemini s brightest stars get their names from twins Castor and Pollux of Greek mythology. Hercules Hercules is named for the famous hero of Greek mythology by the same name. It s one of the larger constellations, but its stars are of only moderate brightness. The Keystone is a well known traezoid shaed asterism (association of stars that are not an official constellation) within Hercules. This constellation is host to M13 (Messier 13), a globular star cluster. Otherwise known as the Hercules Globular Cluster, M13 is home to 300,000 stars, and is just over 22,000 light years away. Leo Leo is a fairly well known constellation, because the lane of the Solar System runs through it. Such constellations are called Zodiac Constellations. Leo has some notable, bright stars, in it to boot. The brightest of these, Regulus is at the bottom of a series of stars arrayed in the form of a sickle, or a backwards question mark. This constellation does look more or less like the side rofile of a lion lying on the ground, with its head u.
Ursa Major Ursa Major, or, the Big Bear, is one of the best known and most well recognized constellations, but you might know it by a different name. Contained within the boundaries of the constellation Ursa Major is the Big Dier, which is not a true constellation, but an asterism. The Big Dier is useful for finding both the North Star and the bright star Arcturus. Follow the curve of the handle to arc to Arcturus and use to two stars in the dier oosite the handle to oint to the North Star. Ursa Minor Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, is much fainter than it s comanion the Big Bear, Ursa Major. Within Ursa Minor is the well known asterism The Little Dier. The end of the tail of the bear, or the end of the handle of the dier, is a star called Polaris the Pole Star, or the North Star. This secial star haens to sit at the oint where the Earth s axis of rotation intersects the sky Virgo
Virgo s brightest star Sica is found by following the curve of the handle of the Big Dier ( arc to Arcturus, in Boötes, then sike to Sica ).The rest of the constellation isn t articularly bright, but Virgo lies along the eclitic the lane of the Solar System, so bright lanets ass through occasionally. Auriga Auriga is located north of the celestial equator. Its name is the Latin word for "charioteer", associating it with various mythological charioteers, including Erichthonius and Myrtilus. Auriga is most rominent in the northern Hemishere winter sky, along with the five other constellations that have stars in the Winter Hexagon asterism. Auriga is half the size of the largest constellation, Hydra. Its brightest star, Caella, is an unusual multile star system among the brightest stars in the night sky. Because of its osition near the winter Milky Way, Auriga has many bright oen clusters within its borders, including M36, M37, and M38. In addition, it has one rominent nebula, the Flaming Star Nebula, associated with the variable star AE Aurigae. M51 Whirlool Galaxy M51, the Whirlool Galaxy, gets its name from its bright and rominent siral arms. It lies at a distance of 23 million light years away. It also has a smaller, comanion galaxy (NGC 5195). The two galaxies are one of the best examles of interacting galaxies.
M3 M3 is a globular cluster with a half of a million stars. It orbits the core of our Milky Way Galaxy almost erendicular to the galactic disk. It is currently 33,900 light years away, and aroaching our Solar System at 100 miles er second. M13 Hercules Globular M13, the "Great Globular Cluster in Hercules" was first discovered by Edmund Halley in 1714, and later catalogued by Charles Messier in 1764. It contains 300,000 stars, and is 22,000 lightyears away. Light would need over a century to traverse its diameter. Meteors
Quick streaks of light in the sky called meteors, shooting stars, or falling stars are not stars at all: they are small bits of rock or iron that heat u, glow, and vaorize uon entering the Earth's atmoshere. When the Earth encounters a clum of many of these articles, we see a meteor shower lasting hours or days. Milky Way That clumy band of light is evidence that we live in a disk shaed galaxy. Its ale glow is light from about 200 billion suns! The Green Flash What we call "The Green Flash" is not so much a flash as a flicker of green color, seen on the to of the sun as it sets (or rises). This rare event needs just the right atmosheric conditions.
Scintillation The twinkling of star light is a beautiful effect of the Earth's atmoshere. As light asses through our atmoshere, its ath is deviated (refracted) multile times before reaching the ground. Stars that are near to the horizon will scintillate much more than stars high overhead since you are looking through more air (often the refracted light will dislay individual colors). In sace, stars would not twinkle at all. Astronomers would like it if they could control the effects of this troubling twinkle. M44 The Beehive M44, the "Beehive Cluster," and also known as "Praesee," is a large, bright, diffuse oen star cluster containing about 400 stars. It lies fairly close, at a distance of under 600 light years. M67
The little oen cluster M67 aears near its larger buddy, M44 The Beehive Cluster. These clusters are actually about the same size, but M67 is five times farther away. M67 is old for an oen cluster; its stars are four billion years old. Coma Berenices Coma Berenices: "Berenice's Hair," a giant Y shaed oen star cluster. It is only 280 lightyears away and aears a bit east of Leo. Juiter Juiter is the largest lanet in the Solar System, a gas giant 11 Earthdiameters across. Its atmoshere contains the Great Red Sot, a long lived storm 2 3 times the size of the Earth. The 4 large Galilean satellites and at least 63 smaller moons orbit Juiter.
Moon The same side of the Moon always faces Earth because the lunar eriods of rotation and revolution are the same. The surface of the moon is covered with imact craters and lava filled basins. The Moon is about a fourth of Earth's diameter and is about 30 Earth diameters away. Algieba (γ Leo) Algieba (γ Leonis) is a binary star in the mane of Leo, the lion. These two golden yellow giant stars are about 23 and 10 times the diameter of the Sun, and are about 130 light years away. Their orbital eriod is over 500 years. In 2009, a giant lanet was found orbiting one of these stars.
Your Telescoe Oerator and Guide. Thank you for joining me this evening! See you soon!! The web age for the rogram in which you just articiated is at Nightly Observing Program. Most of the above images were taken as art of the Overnight Telescoe Observing Program. For more information on this unique exerience lease visit Overnight Telescoe Observing Program. Coyright 2017 Kitt Peak Visitor Center Commit